Gig of the week: Joint Forces

After more than 12 years flying the flag for Kiwi drum ‘n’ bass, Damien Bimler (aka Mysterious D) is marching to a new beat – dubstep.

Early last year Christchurch-based Bimler enlisted fellow DJ producers Chewie and Soul Provider for his Joint Forces dubstep project.

Saturday’s gig at Subculture will see Camo MC join the outfit – less Melbourne-based Chewie – for a night that’s also set to feature the drum ‘n’ bass sounds of Mysterious D and Confucius.

For those who can’t tell their breaks from their trance, glitch or gabber, the thrust of dubstep is its emphasis on sparse rhythms and heavy bass.

Bimler says the slower style steadily won more of his time and attention over drum ‘n’ bass, his “long-time passion”.

“The main thing I really love about dubstep is the fact that it has a half-time break with a double-time bassline,”

Bimler explains. “It creates a distinctive swagger in the music that isn’t really there in any other form.”

Joint Forces recently scored a deal with German label Dubstep Division and a 12-inch featuring the vocals of Daddy Freddy and Don Goliath is slated for release this year.

Two tracks released last October on Stupid Fly Records (US) remained in the top three downloaded dubstep tracks on music website Digi-Tunes for more than three weeks.

“We’ve been approached by a lot of people to do remixes for overseas labels and we’re working on various New Zealand collaborations as well,” says Bimler. “We’ve just finished a remix for Dubwize that we haven’t started shopping around yet but big things are waiting for that tune.

“Confucius and I are still dabbling with writing the odd drum ‘n’ bass tune, but with these signings we’ve had as Joint Forces I’ve decided to put most of my effort into that basket.”

Recently married Bimler is considering a move to Melbourne after a tour of NZ and Australia in March.

“Any move would be for a change of scene, and so Chewie and I can keep the Joint Forces thing rolling.

“Dubstep has got more and more exciting over the past few years so we’re keen to keep at it.”

Catch Joint Forces with Camo MC, and Mysterious D and Confucius, at Subculture on Saturday from 9pm